Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that may occur after an individual is exposed to one or more traumatic events. While most people who have experienced a traumatic event will not suffer from PTSD, its prevalence is as high as 60% amongst combat veterans. The individual re-experiences the event(s) through intrusive recollections, nightmares, flashbacks, or intense distress when exposed to reminders of the event(s). The patient may have feelings of detachment, amnesia, emotional numbing, restricted affect or active avoidance of thoughts that may be reminders of the trauma. Symptoms were first diagnosed during the American Civil War, and were initially given the name "Shell Shock" during World War I. Cases of PTSD Beauty and the Beast Unit All four members of the Beauty and the Beast Unit (Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf, and Screaming Mantis) suffered from PTSD, being either witnesses and victims to, or participants of war crimes. In particular, their PTSD manifested as manic laughter, uncontrollable rage, inconsolable sorrow, and unending screaming, respectively. Big Boss, MSF and Diamond Dogs Big Boss was a sufferer of PTSD, as he constantly experienced flashbacks to his killing of The Boss, profusely sweating whenever he heard The Boss's voice, or when the Mammal Pod referred to him as "Jack." Also, Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF) and Diamond Dogs personnel would be sent to Mother Base's sick bay, if they ever began to experience signs of PTSD. In the latter case, sometimes certain staff members worsen the effects of PTSD. The Fury Prior to The Fury's death, in the underground tunnel beneath Groznyj Grad, he began to relive his memories of the disastrous spaceflight mission in which he received his burns, before launching himself into the ceiling with his jetpack. Glaz and Palitz The sniper team duo Glaz and Palitz ended up self-mutilating their eye and finger, respectively, in an attempt to eliminate their past. This was largely due to their drugs and therapy not being enough to soothe them, implying that they suffered from intense PTSD for their actions during the Laotian Civil War.Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, Kojima Productions (2014) Kazuhira Miller: We searched the two targets and Palitz you recovered. One of them Glaz had a glass eye, the other Palitz a prosthetic index finger. Looks like all the therapy and drugs couldn't help them forget the war. They resorted to self-mutilation. But you can't cut off your name. Just like us... they were human. This is revealed in the post-credits debriefing if the player extracted the targets instead of assassinating them in the Side Op Eliminate the Renegade Threat. Gray Fox In her novelized account of the events of the Shadow Moses Incident, In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, Nastasha Romanenko speculated that Gray Fox's reactions to Naomi Hunter, as well as his consistently going to the battlefields with Big Boss, were derived from PTSD gained as a child soldier.Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001). "We may have looked like a happy little family, but I was terrified every time she looked me in the eye -- that she would see the truth. Tell her for me, will you? Tell her that I'm the one who took her family from her, not you." (Page 244) Many former child soldiers are permanently traumatized by their horrific war experiences. It was possible that Gray Fox's compulsions -- whether it be taking in his victims' orphaned child or returning again and again to the battlefields with Big Boss -- had its roots in his childhood scars. In the Darkness of Shadow Moses The Unofficial Truth by Nastasha Romanenko. Solid Snake After the Outer Heaven Uprising, Solid Snake began to suffer from recurring nightmares regarding the incident. He undertook Operation Intrude F014, in an attempt to rid himself of them,Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Konami Corporation (1990). Solid Snake: "I came to get rid of the nightmares I've been having for the past three years. ... I've only got one fight left. To free myself of your grip, to rid myself of these nightmares... Big Boss, I will defeat you!" In the timeline supplied in the Metal Gear 2 manual, it is stated that the Outer Heaven Uprising took place in 1995, while the first Metal Gear was developed in 1996 (and by extension, Operation Intrude N313 as well). Subsequent games and sources use the 1995 date for both events. and after succeeding in his mission, he believed this had come to pass.Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Konami Corporation (1990). Roy Campbell: "Good work, Snake. Have you thought about... coming back to the unit?" // Solid Snake: "...The nightmares have stopped. I'm a free man now." // Campbell: "I see... that's too bad." Big Boss, however, believed that the nightmares could never go away once a soldier has them.Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Konami Corporation (1990). Solid Snake: "I came to get rid of the nightmares I've been having for the past three years. // Big Boss: "The nightmares? They never go away, Snake. Once you've been to the battlefield, tasted the exhileration, the tension... it all becomes part of you." In the timeline supplied in the Metal Gear 2 manual, it is stated that the Outer Heaven Uprising took place in 1995, while the first Metal Gear was developed in 1996 (and by extension, Operation Intrude N313 as well). Subsequent games and sources use the 1995 date for both events. Solid Snake was aware of the effects of PTSD, and would diagnose its potential occurrence in people exhibiting strange behavior. On Shadow Moses, he contacted Nastasha regarding Meryl Silverburgh, to which she theorized that she could have been suffering from short term PTSD, having had a friend who developed Chechen Syndrome and took his life six months later.Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (1998). Solid Snake: Meryl is acting kind of strange.... // Nastasha: It could be the stress of battle. ...I have sic a friend who had Chechan Syndrome. He became depressed six months after returning from Chechnya and took his own life. He was forced to fight people who spoke his own language...people with his own culture. He couldn't live with the guilt of it... // Snake: It sounds like PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. A lot of veterans returning from Vietnam suffered from that...in fact, many still do. // Nastasha: Yes, it is also similar to the Afghan Syndrome. In Meryl's case, it is probably a much more short-term condition... Try to cheer her up. She'll come out of it. // Snake: Meryl is definitely not herself. Could she be dragged? In 2014, Snake theorized that Rat Patrol member Johnny Sasaki suffered from PTSD, and Otacon noted that the SOP System should have counteracted its effects.This was later explained when it was revealed Johnny had no nanomachines inside his body; the SOP System had no control over him. Snake himself was also heavily implied to have received PTSD from his undergoing the Shadow Moses Incident, with it emerging during the Big Shell Incident,This is indicated if the player has Raiden call Iroquois Pliskin while the latter was resting up from his injuries at the hands of Vamp, where Snake is heard somberly mentioning Meryl as well as yelling Liquid's name. and when revisiting Shadow Moses.Shadow Moses dream Gulf War veterans Several Gulf War veterans had post-traumatic stress syndrome as among their maladies with the Gulf War Syndrome. However, this and the other symptoms (as well as the resultant Gulf War baby phenomenon) were in fact the result of an earlier version of the Genome Soldier project. Raiden Raiden, a former child soldier in the Liberian Civil War, had recurring nightmares relating to the suppressed memories of his involvement as a child soldier, making him fearful of the night. This also served as the primary reason why Raiden wouldn't allow people to keep him company in his room, not even his then-girlfriend Rosemary.Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2001). Raiden: Terrible nightmares -- every night. I can never forget... // Rose: Jack... // Raiden: I'm afraid of the night. That's why I don't sleep next to you. It is also implied that these nightmares were ultimately how Raiden, despite having his memories altered by the Patriots after being taken from a relief shelter, managed to at the very least deduce what happened in his past. Following the events of the Big Shell Incident, Raiden's PTSD worsened as a result of regaining his memories, causing him to start drinking heavily, get into fights, and eventually leave Rose. During Raiden's emergency cybernetic surgery in 2018, Raiden frequently flashed back to his days as a child soldier in Liberia, which was partially caused by the severance of his left arm. In addition, he also continued to go exclusively by the codename of Raiden due to his real name, Jack, reminding him too much about his painful past. He ultimately adopted the murderous persona of "Jack the Ripper," a name he had been given as a child soldier. Although not an actual PTSD attack, Raiden was forcibly exposed via Samuel Rodrigues to the inner thoughts of the Cyborg soldiers, showing them panicking and horrified at what they were made to do, which ended up disturbing Raiden enough that his fighting ability had been significantly decreased. Elisa FOX medic Elisa suffered from nightmares, due to surviving the Kyshtym nuclear disaster in the Ural Mountains, near Ozyorsk (Chelyabinsk-65), in 1957. Python In 1970, FOX operative Python revealed to Naked Snake that he constantly suffered from nightmares, due to having killed many people, during the "wetworks" missions he undertook for the CIA. Trained as an Anti-Snake Soldier, he believed he could end his nightmares by killing his former comrade. Behind the scenes Marionette Owl, from the non-canon game Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, claimed that he frequently relived the traumatic event of witnessing his friend Laura's remains strewn across a field after she was murdered by a serial killer in his sleep up to his death. In the video Metal Gear Sunrising, made to promote Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Raiden while using the blender has a PTSD episode where he ended up brutally killing two soldiers from a building. Notes and references Category:Medical